BeYOUtiful

Read the following statements and keep track of how many are true to you as an individual.

On the whole I am satisfied with myself.

At times I think that I am no good at all.

I feel that I have a number of good qualities.

I am able to do things as well as most other people.

I feel I do not have much to be proud of.

I certainly feel useless at times.

I feel that I am a person of worth, at least the equal of others.

I wish I could have more respect for myself.

All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure.

10. I take a positive attitude toward myself.

You have just completed the most popular self esteem questionnaire in the US – the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. Created by sociologist Morris Rosenberg, this is one of the most widely regarded scales in America. If your answers reflect confidence, social sciences predict that you have a positive state of mind, are clean and sober, have no criminal record, and overall have high self esteem. However, if your answers revealed some form of discomfort with yourself, the scale claims you were, or are, a teen parent, have a criminal past, disconnected socially, or overall have little to no confidence in yourself physically or mentally.

Self esteem in America is a controversial subject due to the influx of mass media today that distorts true meanings of beauty. As a result of the unrealistic beauty standards set by social media and today, society has had difficulty defining what beauty really is.

Exploring this difficulty, a recent TIME article titled, “How Social Media is Toxic Mirror,” covers how social media provides a “deadly illusion” to how many individuals of the 21st century see beauty. Rachel Simmons, a leadership development specialist at Smith College, argues that “Visual platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat deliver the tools that allow teens to earn approval for their appearance and compare themselves to others.” In other words, competition grows between adolescents and causes beauty to be based on the number of likes a picture gets. Similarly, a study done at Flinders University found that social media use linked closely to low confidence in self image, stressful dieting, and overall self-objectification in adolescents. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that social media causes the problems, there is a strong association between them.

Be You Day at SAS is a full day event where students celebrate inner beauty. For the entire school day, newspaper covers every mirror in order to emphasize to the community the importance of self esteem and reliance on one’s own confidence. The event also asks students to be share with others one thing that they like about themselves.

Think about it. What is one thing that you like about yourself? Is it your hair? Maybe your eyes? Is it your sense of humor? Or perhaps, you have an caring personality? What is one thing that you genuinely are happy about with yourself? Be You day caters to you finding that quality that you love about yourself, and building confidence on it, not just for one day, but throughout your life.

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Author: Ana Chavez

Ana Chavez is a Senior and one of the co-editors of the Eye. This is her second year as a reporter, and she has been attending SAS since kindergarten. Some of her hobbies include baking cookies, organizing her room, and annoying her older brother. She can be contacted at chavez30348@sas.edu.sg.
View all posts by Ana Chavez